


A Vanilla Bean Bedtime Story

by Mommadon



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-17 00:00:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29584119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mommadon/pseuds/Mommadon
Summary: This is the true story of a little bean named Olli.Write your own epilogue!
Comments: 21
Kudos: 15





	A Vanilla Bean Bedtime Story

This is the true story of a little vanilla bean named Olli.

Olli and his friends grew up in a warm, sunny, humid place called Madagascar. It was a beautiful and amazing land, filled with people who loved and coveted him. When Olli was just a few weeks old, his friend, Farmer J., took a little tool and scratched his skin. “Ouch!” Olli cried.

“It’s ok,” Farmer J. reassured lovingly, “It’ll only hurt for a little while. It will heal, and then the scar will protect you from anyone who might try to steal you.”

Olli did get better. Olli grew and grew. He loved the sounds of the birds and the language Farmer J. and all her associates used as they worked the orchard. One day, Olli started to ripen. He turned slightly yellow, and Farmer J. came back and took Olli away from the long vine he’d called home. Once free from the vine, Olli discovered a new world.

First, Olli went in a big pot of boiling water. It wasn’t as bad as he’d feared. Then, Olli went through a series of steam and drying processes, being wrapped in big blankets, sorted, measured, cleaned, and checked again and again. It was an exciting time in Olli’s life. He was changing so much, developing and becoming greater than he ever dreamed. Everyone he met was kind and interesting, and told him what a beautiful bean he was. Finally, one day, he was measured and bundled up with lots of other beans that looked like him, and then sealed in a dark Styrofoam box. A new friend, Supplier I., told him that some friends far, far away across the ocean, had prepared a forever home for him. Olli was so excited! He’d met so many people, and had so many adventures already, that he couldn’t believe he would get to stay with one family forever!

Olli was so excited in his Styrofoam box. The journey was long and bumpy. Many more people checked the box to make sure it was safe and correct. Olli waited patiently. His forever home was excited to meet him, and he was excited to get there too. At one point, the Styrofoam home seemed to get stuck. Someone said something about “customs” and he decided that must be equivalent to “torture,” because he could sense his home was so very close. But the torture did end, and one day Olli and his Styrofoam house was put on a truck, delivered to a cold, dry, and strange land called Cache Valley, Utah, and wheeled up to a simple but lovely house. When the door was opened, Olli was greeted by the sound of excited children playing and adults working. Someone cheered his name—“Olli’s here! Everyone, come help!”

“Is this my forever home?” Olli asked with excitement.

A kind woman named Sara smiled and said, “No, not yet. But we are going to make sure you get there.”

The Styrofoam box was brought in and Olli felt warmer already. It took a few days for the people in the house to open that box, but Olli was safe and happy to wait his turn. At last, they got to Olli. The Styrofoam opened, the light poured in on Olli and all his friends, and then the package that had kept Olli protected from the elements for the last several weeks was stripped away. Olli was told he needed a quick bath and one more measurement before he could go to his forever home. 

“Ok, ok,” Olli groaned, “but make it quick! I heard my forever home has all kinds of friends and I can’t wait to meet them!”

The people in the Cache Valley House worked as quickly as they could, but it wasn’t nearly as fast as Olli wished. He was given a nice bath in rum, not too long—just a little one, and then he was weighed on a scale and put in a bag with some more friends.

“Are you going to our forever home too?” Olli asked the others in the bag.

“Yes, yes!” they squealed. “What do you think our home will be like?”

“Maybe they’ll make delicious things!”

“Maybe we’ll be shared with friends and neighbors!”

“Maybe we’ll bring joy to them!”

The beans wondered and dreamed of what was to come for a few days while other bags of other beans were made. Compared to the long days in the Styrofoam box, or in the sunny heat of Madagascar, the few days in Cache Valley weren’t very many, but Olli sure felt like they were the longest wait of his life. Knowing his forever family was so close was driving him crazy! 

At last, shipping day came. Olli was plucked from a box and given a label with a name on it. Too bad Olli couldn’t read, because if he could, he would know the name of his forever family. It was only a few minutes later when a kindly gentleman known simply as “Grandpa” put him in a bright purple package with a shipping label and said, “Next stop is your forever home!”

Olli had been through shipping before, but this time felt different. This time, every bump, every jostle of a moving truck, every ride on a conveyor belt, every scan, every flight in an airplane, and every weigh-in was exciting and full of nervous anticipation. Olli was on his way to his forever home and was thrilled. Even the few days he got stuck in a warehouse in Salt Lake City were exciting. Even when he overheard some workers say “weather delay,” nothing could crush Olli’s spirits. 

And then, one day, like magic, Olli was put in a delivery truck and taken out to a quiet and dark mailbox. “This is it!” Olli whispered to his friends in the purple bag. “This is the moment we’ve been waiting for our whole lives!”

The mailbox creaked. A soft hand opened it. An excited face appeared. Olli knew this was his forever friend, because the person smiled and exclaimed, “Oh! Olli! You made it!” And then Olli was picked up and given a warm embrace.

Olli tumbled out of his bag. The new friend looked him over and took pictures. His little scar from all those months ago was their favorite part. Suddenly, Olli’s life was full of new meaning. Olli had never been particularly self-conscious, but right now, he felt like the most beautiful and special thing on the very large planet (he knew it was a large planet—he’d seen a lot of it!). 

“You’re so beautiful!” his forever family crooned.

“You’re so fragrant!” They loved smelling him.

“I’ll give you a long and happy bath in alcohol!” they cried, and as Olli slipped into another bath—a much longer and happier bath, Olli smiled to himself.

“I love you, Olli,” his family said to him.

“I love you too,” he whispered sleepily in his warm and pleasant bath. “This was worth it,” he sighed. “All the waiting and bumps and bruises were worth it. I can’t wait to share everything I am with this family.”

And so he did.

* * *

The end

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for stopping by! This true story was written by a real-life [IndriVanilla worker](https://indrivanilla.com/vanilla-bean-co-op-info) who got to meet Olli and his friends recently. If you're the final star of this story and you gave Olli his forever home, please feel free to add your own epilogue and let me know how he's doing!


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